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Anderson, Wynn

Muhlenbergia wrightii

Muhlenbergia wrightii Vasey ex J.M. Coult.

Spike Muhly

Poaceae (Grass Family)

Synonym(s):

USDA Symbol: MUWR

USDA Native Status: L48 (N)

Wright’s muhly or spike muhly’s clumps of erect, wiry stems rise 8-24 in. from a hard crown. Perennial clumps can be 1-2 ft. in diameter. The seed head is spike-like and interrupted along its length. Leaves are narrow and light green.

The genus of this plant is named for Gotthilf Heinrich Ernst Muhlenberg (1753-1815), also Heinrich Ludwig Muehlenberg, or Henry Muhlenberg, who was a German-educated Lutheran minister and the first president of Franklin College, now Franklin and Marshall College, Pennsylvania. He is most famous due to his work in the field of botany. An accomplished botanist, chemist, and minerologist, Henry is credited with classifying and naming 150 species of plants in his 1785 work Index Flora Lancastriensis. Muhlenberg's work and collaboration with European botanists led to great advances in the study of plants and earned him the distinction as America's first outstanding botanist.

The species name is for Charles Wright, 1811-1885, world-wide botanical collector but mainly in Texas (1837-1852), Cuba and his native Connecticut.